I am in the process of moving, and am looking at modular safes as a solution. Who do we like these days? Snap Safe? Zanotti? Thank you all in advance.
I am in the process of moving, and am looking at modular safes as a solution. Who do we like these days? Snap Safe? Zanotti? Thank you all in advance.
I like Secureit for the money, I have no knowledge of other options out there though.
I've been using Secureit for the last couple years. It works as advertised and I can't imagine going to a standard RSC.
David S.
I've had a Zanotti for a long time. I've heard they are under new ownership. When I wanted to change around my interior they sent me parts for free so I was pretty happy with them. I have the 6 footer and it's a pretty heavy safe for a portable. I couldn't find the weights on the site but they say the doors can weigh up to 175lbs. It's difficult to move the door and sides alone. I don't think I could drop the door onto it's hinge alone.
I don't regret mine and I've moved it a few times now, and I don't mind paying a little more for USA made products...
I might get something else if I was buying today. The price has gotten pretty high relative to the other ones. There is a wait time and you have to investigate the shipping. I picked mine up at some kind of freight hub.
If you know you are going to move around for awhile, the lighter options might be better.
I think it's the portable that is the most like a "real" safe and least like a cabinet if that matters to you.
Zanotti is still the gold standard in modular safes IMO.
I believe I read here on P-F that more guns are lost to fire than theft. It's for that reason I didn't go with the containers listed in the first post.
I'm not an insurance guy, but maybe if there's special provisions for fire for covering guns. If so, then maybe it's a wash and the special benefits of those safes can then be more appreciated.
Last edited by SLUZENE; 10-08-2021 at 06:27 PM.
I recently had a discussion with my insurance agent about any possible discounts for installing a monitored burglar/fire/carbon monoxide alarm. He indicated that fire was a much more common reason for homeowners insurance claims than burglary, at least in my region. While this does not speak directly to guns, it does confirm the quoted point.Originally Posted by SLUZENE
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Any legal information I may post is general information, and is not legal advice. Such information may or may not apply to your specific situation. I am not your attorney unless an attorney-client relationship is separately and privately established.
Fire rated safes are a bit of a joke guys, that's why Secureit doesn't really go that route. The ratings are rather meaningless no matter what they claim, it's very likely that no 'fire rated' safe is truly going to protect in a serious fire for even a short time. Theft is far more likely also, according to Secureit's owner.
I don't personally own anything with any significant value, sentimental or otherwise. A few grand all in. I'd have far bigger concerns if all was lost in a house fire. My first priority is keeping little kid hands off them. Secondly, protecting against a smash and grab. I have no illusions that any RSC is going to protect against a dedicated thief using power tools from my own attached garage.
For that context, I believe the modular style style makes a lot of sense.
David S.
I would generally agree with you because so many manufacturers do their own test so there's a lack in consistency and too many variables. Since there are no UL fire rated gun safes, the next best thing is to look for an Intertek - ETL Laboratories label. They do not write the specs like UL does, but they use the same UL specs in their testing. Of course wild fires like we have seen in CA will destroy everything, but in an urban environment with a "normal" house fire and prompt fire department response, your chances improve dramatically to spare your valuables with one of the better quality fire rated safes.
Here's a chart that was shared by a retired AMSEC engineer that was very involved with all their current products. It's apparently them testing random fire rated safes (we can probably guess which ones they were interested in testing). I have always believed in the slurry fill for fire resistance more than any gypsum board or fire wool. He also stated that the most likely first failing point is at the door seals. The use of a silicone seal along with a properly installed expanding seal apparently makes a big difference.
This is what he said:
Attachment 78264Generally speaking, yes a door seal malfunction (or poor design) will result in a fast early rise and failure. Fundamentally, there are two key ingredients necessary to achieve good fire performance; Door Sealing and Insulation Steam Capacity. In reality it's not that simple, but if you get all the other nagging details right, those are the big deal-breakers. The steam barrier, which is the point where you start to release the primary steam from Calcination (decomposition of the insulation), takes time to develop. While that insulating material is heating up to the Calcination temperature threshold, you have to keep the super-heated furnace gasses out of the safe. In a 1200ºF fire test, that Calcination takes 8-12 minutes to get rolling.
If you're letting the hot air in too much, the interior temperature passes 350ºF before you get the cooling/stability from the steam. It's actually much more complex, because you also have conducted heat coming in from all directions thru the door and walls. The "conduction factor" can also cause, or add to, an early failure. All that steel is a huge heat sink, sucking up energy. If there are "short and significant" heat conduction paths to the interior space, they act like radiators pouring IR and Convection energy into the internal spaces too. It takes a lot of testing and engineering to minimize all the energy transfer attributes of a safe. It's actually quite complex, and very difficult to model.
But, when testing competing safes, we don't spend a lot of time analyzing their construction, we just test them. So, it may not be fair to say these early failures are all door seal problems. The root cause can be a combination of issues. However, it's pretty easy to predict an early failure when you can see poor door seal designs.
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